BOOM!
Two hundred pounds of bone and muscle wrapped in Rank 4 Mid Qi-Gathering spiritual pressure slammed into the limestone flagstones directly across the archway of the arena exit gate.
Senior Head Instructor Lei straightened his broad shoulders inside the swirling twelve-foot phantom of his Full-Body Thunder-Tortoise Spirit Shield. Crackling threads of purple-bronze lightning danced across the illusory tortoise carapace, raising the hair on the necks of every spectator in the front twenty rows.
After the kids’ leisurely lunch and Scholar Wen’s mandatory afternoon etiquette lecture, the sun had already dipped toward the western eaves of the Dragon-Leap Gate. On the tall brass water-clock beside the judging dais, the bronze pointer clicked loudly onto 3:55 PM.
Only fifty yards away on the other side of the outer wrought-iron fence, Gu Changsheng was lifting a third golden-brown tray of Freshly Baked Caramelized Custard Egg Tarts out of his portable charcoal oven. The heavenly, buttery aroma of flaky thousand-layer pastry shells and hot, trembling vanilla-egg custard floated straight through the iron bars and into the arena.
“Four o’clock snack time in five minutes!” Gu Changsheng called out cheerfully, setting three tall glasses of warm honey-milk beside the cooling rack while Hotpot wagged both tails so hard the pavement shook. “Kids, wash your hands and pack your bento boxes!
